AMD 990FX Mobo Round-Up: Asus, ASRock, Gigabyte
Asus CrossHair V Formula
The Asus CrossHair line of motherboards for AMD processors has long been a favorite amongst enthusiast and this latest addition seems poised to carry on the tradition. As we've mentioned, the CrossHair V Formula is based on the AMD 990FX chipset and supports all current socket AM3 processors and future AM3+ based processors as well. Asus has also augmented the board with a number of additional controllers to further enhance it's feature set and connectivity options.
The Asus CrossHair V Formula
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| CPU | AMD AM3+ FX/Phenom II/Athlon II/Sempron 100 Series Processors Supports AM3+ 32 nm CPU Supports CPU up to 8 cores Supports CPU up to 140 W AMD Cool 'n' Quiet Technology |
| Chipset | AMD 990FX/SB950 |
| Memory | 4 x DIMM, Max. 32GB, DDR3 2133(O.C.)/2000(O.C.)/1800(O.C.)/1600/1333/1066 Hz ECC, Non-ECC, Un-buffered Memory Dual Channel Memory Architecture |
| Multi-GPU Support | Supports NVIDIA 3-Way SLI Technology Supports AMD 3-Way CrossFireX Technology |
| Expansion Slots | 3 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (dual x16 or x16, x8, x8) 1 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (x4 mode) 1 x PCIe 2.0 x1 1 x PCI |
| Storage | AMD SB950 controller : 6 x SATA 6Gb/s port(s), red Support Raid 0, 1, 5, 10 ASMedia ASM1061 controller : 1 x SATA 6Gb/s port(s), red 1 x eSATA 6Gb/s port(s), red |
| LAN | Intel, 1 x Gigabit LAN Controller |
| Audio | SupremeFX X-Fi 2 built-in 8-Channel High Definition Audio CODEC - Supports : Jack-detection, Multi-streaming, Front Panel Jack-retasking Audio Feature : - X-Fi Xtreme Fidelity - EAX Advanced HD 5.0 - THX TruStudio PRO - Creative ALchemy - Blu-ray audio layer Content Protection - Optical S/PDIF out port(s) at back panel |
| USB Ports | ASMedia USB 3.0 controller : 6 x USB 3.0 port(s) (4 at back panel, blue, 2 at mid-board) AMD SB950 controller : 12 x USB 2.0 port(s) (8 at back panel, black+white, 4 at mid-board) |
| Form Factor | ATX Form Factor 12 inch x 9.6 inch ( 30.5 cm x 24.4 cm ) |
In addition to exploiting all of the features inherent to the 990FX chipset, the CrossHair V Formula also sports a pair of ASMedia controllers that add additional SATA 6G ports and six USB 3.0 ports. The board supports both 3-Way NVDIA SLI and AMD CrossFireX multi-GPU configurations and the board is outfitted with an advanced UEFI BIOS and DIGI+ digital VRM design as well. As you'll see a little later, the UEFI setup menu on this board is about as good as it gets.
As expected from an Asus RoG (Republic of Gamers) board, there are plenty of overclocking tools built in too and an onboard SupremeFX X-Fi 2 chip delivers decent audio, especially for an integrated solution.
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The Asus CrossHair V Formula AM3+ AMD 990FX-Based Motherboard
In addition to the CrossHair V Formula pictured here, a Thunderbolt edition is on tap as well. The CrossHair V Formula/ThunderBolt will come with Asus’ ThunderBolt audio/LAN combo expansion card. The ThunderBolt card is outfitted with XONAR audio technology which provides better sound quality than integrated solutions, and also offers a built-in headphone amplifier with adjustable impedance settings for fine tuning of the audio output. The Crosshair V Formula/Thunderbolt also incorporates the Bigfoot Networks Killer E2100 NIC.
Other noteworthy features of the Asus CrossHair V Formula include its "CPU Level Up" tool which allows for easy overclocking, RoG Connect for accessing PC health status via a secondary system like a notebook or netbook, ProbeIt voltage check points, and its Intel Gigabit LAN controller. The layout of the board is also very good and there is ample cooling for the chipset and voltage regulators. As you can see in the final image above, there is also plenty of connectivity in the board's backplane, including USB 3.0, USB 2.0, eSATA, PS/2, LAN, digital and analog audio, and RoG connect port.
